November 15th, 2011

I know I‘ve confessed this before, but I like stuff. Especially old, retro/antique stuff. I’m also a fan of shows about stuff like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Antiques Roadshow, and while I haven’t seen it yet, I am sure I would be all about American Restoration.

Recently, I was talking with my grandma about how much we both liked American Pickers when she recommended that I watch Storage Wars. It just so happened that later that week, Netflix said because I liked AP, I should also check out Storage Wars. I took this as a sign and started in on the series. (I should also point out that Netflix also said I may like Jersey Shore because of my interest in AP, and I wasn’t exactly rushing to start that show.)

Storage Wars is an A&E reality show about people who attend the auction of storage units (that people didn’t pay the rent on and were repossessed by the storage facility) and bid, hoping to score big with the contents inside. The rules of the auction are simple: the unit goes to the highest bidder and no one is allowed to step foot inside the storage area until it is bought. Essentially, much of the time it is just a guess on the bidder’s part as to whether the room holds trash or treasure.

Of the reality series I mentioned above (with the exception of Jersey Shore), Storage Wars is my least favorite. It’s still good and worth watching, it just doesn’t seem as interesting or well done as the History Channel shows.

On one hand, it is interesting that Storage Wars follows several bidders from the casual auction attendee to a professional businessman who easily spends thousands on a unit to fill his stores. I appreciate that it provides a look at the different type of people who go to these auctions. On the other hand, watching multiple stories makes it difficult to really relate to any one in particular.

I also think that History Channel does a better job of providing information to its viewers than this A&E show. I like that the History Channel offers additional facts and trivia about the items being handled onscreen. Storage Wars, however, doesn’t give the audience context about the “treasures” found in the storage units—which is a bit disappointing.

Overall, Storage Wars is a decent show—it’s just not spectacular. Sure, I will watch subsequent seasons when they are available, but I would like to see additional episodes contain more depth (both about the items discovered and the people who attend the auction).